The government shutdown began with Democrats saying Republican demands about Obamacare were ‘extortion.’ Now, as the GOP resistance collapses, Senate Democrats are pushing back.
For the past few weeks, Democrats from the president on down decried Republican tactics on a potential government shutdown as political hostage-taking on a par with “extortion.” So, of course, now that the Republicans are on the run, the Democrats are doing the exact same thing in reverse.
They’re saying they want to undo major part of the sequester budget cuts as part of a deal to end the government shutdown and raise the debt limit. It’s as though Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada has finally sensed his moment to destroy that product of tea party Republicanism once and for all. One might not even be surprised if “Ride of the Valkyries” was booming from his Senate office this morning.
That is how dramatically the story in Washington has flipped during the two weeks since the government shutdown.
Source: Yahoo! News – Yahoo! News: Government shutdown backfires? GOP says Democrats now guilty of extortion
An Army briefing at Camp Shelby in Mississippi listed the American Family Association alongside domestic hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam according to a report from FoxNews.
A soldier who attended the briefing contacted Fox News about his concerns that the military was classifying Christian ministries as “hate groups”.
“I had to show Americans what our soldiers are now being taught,” the solider told FoxNews. “I couldn’t just let this one pass.”
The soldier’s identity was kept confidential by FoxNews to avoid retaliation for releasing the information that Army training is classifying Christian ministries as hate groups. The soldier also said that a chaplain interrupted the briefing to challenge the presenter on his assertions but that other soldiers remained silent.
The report of the briefing comes months after other Army officials were exposed telling troops that evangelical Christians and Catholics were religious extremists.
In an e-mail forwarded to FoxNews, another officer told other officers to pay attention to troops who support groups like the American Family Association and the Family Research Council saying those groups do not “share our Army Values.”
“When we see behaviors that are inconsistent with Army Values – don’t just walk by – do the right thing and address the concern before it becomes a problem,” the officer wrote to subordinates.
For the first time, optimism has come from both sides of the aisle in negotiations toward raising the country’s debt limit.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid told reporters there was “tremendous progress” in negotiations. Sources close to the negotiations said that a deal to ending the partial government shutdown is being neared as well.
“We hope with good fortune,” Reid told reporters. “Perhaps tomorrow will be a bright day. We’re not there yet.”
Closed door meetings of both parties were scheduled for Tuesday. However, there is concern that even if a deal is reached in the Senate on Tuesday, there will not be enough time for both houses of Congress to act before the Thursday deadline.
There is also concern that some Republicans would act to slow down any deal from being passed before the Thursday deadline.
Washington is deadlocked as it enters the 14th day of a partial government shutdown that leaves the United States facing the prospect of defaulting on its bonds – a move that could send both the dollar and global financial markets into a tailspin.
The crisis has already led to furloughs of 350,000 federal workers, canceled military training missions and slowed economic growth.
Following multiple talks between Republican congressional leaders and President Barack Obama over the past two weeks, the negotiations are now focused on Senate leadership from both sides of the aisle. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell launched last-ditch negotiations over the weekend to end the spending and debt stalemate, but they may not be able to reach an agreement that can pass both the House and Senate.
Source: NBC News – NBC News: Government shutdown, day 14: Where does it go from here?
The partial federal government shutdown begins Day 14 amid even greater anxiety. The nation could face its first-ever default if the debt ceiling is not raised by Thursday. What you need to know on Monday, Oct. 14:
Shutdown, debt deal hangs on Senate leaders
It’s come down to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his GOP counterpart, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Many on Capitol Hill are looking at talks between the two Senate leaders as the last — and best — hope for a deal that would end the government shutdown and raise the debt limit of $16.7 trillion. The two leaders asserted control over negotiations to end the stalemate on Saturday, when it became clear that House Speaker John Boehner could not strike a deal with the White House on his own. Reid said he was “optimistic,” while Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said Republicans are “very unified” behind McConnell.
Source: USA Today – USA Today: 5 things to know about government shutdown today
The Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system allows recipients of government food stamps to purchase goods using a digital card with a set spending limit, but for a few hours over the weekend, that limit disappeared for many users visiting Walmart stores in Louisiana.
Walmart and local police in Springhill and Mansfield confirmed to CBS affiliate KSLA that officers were called into the stores to help maintain order Saturday as shoppers swept through the aisles at two stores and bought as much as they could carry.
Xerox, which hosts some of the infrastructure used by the EBT card system, told KSLA that a power outage during a routine maintenance test caused the temporary glitch.
Source: CBS News – CBS News: EBT benefit card glitch sparks Walmart shopping sprees in Louisiana
Three Christian youth pastors who were volunteering at a Washington state middle school have been banned from the building after a few parents said they heard students mention the three had been talking about God at lunch.
KIRO-TV reported the Bainbridge Island School District has hired out an outside contractor to investigate the allegations the three volunteer cafeteria supervisors talked about Jesus.
“We can’t ignore this. There are just too many serious issues to consider here,” board president Mike Spence said. “That’s pretty dangerous. It’s a pretty slippery slope I guess I would say.”
Danny Smith, one of the youth pastors, denied the allegations saying that he responds that he’s a youth pastor when students ask what he does for a living.
“I don’t wanna defend myself, I want to defend my motives. It’s not about me, it’s about why I’m there. It’s not for evangelizing and it’s not for proselytizing or recruiting, but it’s just there to be there,” Smith said.
The district will consider allowing the pastors back on campus after the investigation.
The head of the International Monetary Fund says that a default by the United States on Thursday could send the world into a major recession.
Christine Lagarde said that the default would cause “massive disruption the world over” during an interview for ABC’s Meet The Press.
“If there is that degree of disruption, that lack of certainty, that lack of trust in the US signature, it would mean massive disruption the world over and we would be at risk of tipping yet again into recession,” Lagarde said.
Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, also expressed concern over the situation saying that the U.S. is “days away from a very dangerous moment.”
Multiple finance ministers for European nations told the BBC they don’t expect the U.S. to default but are very uneasy and would like to see the crisis to end soon.
Calling the United States “hypocritical” and “meddling”, China’s official news agency has printed an editorial calling for the world to move on from the United States.
“As U.S. politicians of both political parties are still shuffling back and forth between the White House and the Capitol Hill without striking a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world,” writes the Xinhua News Agency.
The country’s ruling Communist Party controls Xinhua.
The editorial also references the world’s economic problems from the last few years and attributes them to “voracious Wall Street elites.” Xinhua called for a new world order.
“Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated, and a new world order should be put in place, according to which all nations, big or small, poor or rich, can have their key interests respected and protected on an equal footing,” Xinhua wrote.
House Republicans have sent a proposal to President Obama that would end the 11 day partial government shutdown and avert a default by raising the nation’s debt ceiling.
The proposal includes changes in Obamacare as part of the end to the impasse. Also, some benefit programs would also see budget cuts.
The President has previously said he will not negotiate with Republicans on federal spending until the government is reopened and the debt ceiling raised without any conditions. The White House had seemed open to negotiation on Thursday until Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appeared at the White House to have a meeting with the President.
“[It’s time to] put this hysterical talk of default behind us and instead start talking about finding solutions to the problems,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters.